


Last Day on Earth

by theycallmethejackal



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, POV Donna, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-20 18:23:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6020299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theycallmethejackal/pseuds/theycallmethejackal





	Last Day on Earth

There’s a Chinese satellite falling toward the Earth and no one seems to care.

 

I mean, I’ve been known to be a little paranoid, but how is no one else freaked out by this? First it was Ed and Larry. They laughed about it and couldn’t seem to understand why I found it worrisome.

 

Then it was Josh, who just told me to give it to CJ. Yeah, like that hadn’t already crossed my mind. The fax was sent to _her_ office in the first place. Of course when I asked him, he ignored me and moved on to his meetings about tobacco, which are admittedly pretty important, but so is this!

 

Charlie didn’t care either. In fact, his exact response was, ‘cool’. And he made some sort of quip about the Swiss. I, however, did not find it amusing because there’s a freaking satellite plummeting toward the Earth! And of course there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s apparently no alarm to sound and no chain of command to follow, so I am reduced to shouldering this burden on my own whilst everybody around me just goes on with their lives.

 

Lucky them.

 

You know those maudlin conversations people have about if they only had one day left to live? What would they do? Well, I’m finally starting to understand those people. I’m usually positive. I’m silver linings girl most of the time. But it seems like I’m the _only_ person in the entire building who’s not so chipper about this problem hurtling toward us at an alarming speed, and it has me wondering…

 

What would I do with my last day on Earth?

* * *

 “Ow.”

 

Oops. Josh is doing that standing against the wall thing again and I hit him with the door. I don’t really get what the point of this particular therapy is, but if it helps him de-stress, then I’m not going to knock it. Tease him? Sure. That’s what I do. But the most important thing is that he doesn’t start reliving Rosslyn again.

 

“Josh?”

 

“Yeah?” He responds, raising his eyebrows and stepping away from the wall.

 

“Are you okay?” I ask, closing the door behind me. He hasn’t done this wall-standing thing in awhile, and I’m just concerned for him. He’s been running around all day and not really keeping me updated on anything, so I have reason to be concerned.

 

“Is this about that satellite thing?” He asks. “Because I’ve gotta say, Donna, I really don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”

 

“Josh, there’s a very large object plunging toward the Earth at an alarming velocity. How is that not a big deal?” I ask. He opens his mouth to reply, but I interrupt. If he speaks before I have the chance to get this all out, I’m going to lose my nerve. “Josh, you were shot last year…” He exhales through his nose at that. “It got me thinking a lot. You know, I was there while you were in surgery –– “

 

“Why are you telling me all this?” He interrupts, furrowing his brow at me in such an adorable way that I almost forget what I was saying.

 

I sigh and take a step toward him. “I almost lost you, Josh. And I told myself that when you woke up, I’d stop denying everything, but then you were recovering, and then the PTSD, and then before I knew it, almost a year had gone by –– “

 

“Donna, seriously, you’re babbling again.”

 

I breathe deeply. “All day I’ve been thinking about this satellite and how it might hit us, and I keep asking myself, ‘if I only have one day left, what do I want to do with it?’” I explain.

 

“Yeah?” He asks, and I may be crazy, but he sounds pretty breathless.

 

“And I just…” I don’t know when my hands wandered to his chest, but they’re sliding up until they cup his neck. Clearly there’s no going back now. So I do the one thing I want to make sure I do before I die.

 

I kiss Josh Lyman.

 

I feel the slightest bit of hesitance from him, but then I feel those strong arms wrapping around my waist, pulling me until our bodies are flush against each other. He’s a _really_ good kisser. Or you know, maybe it’s just that we’re so in tune to each other at this point that it’s translating physically, but either way, I’m glad that if I die today, at least I didn’t die without finding out what it’s like to kiss him.

 

Finally I let myself remember just where we are. Even though I’ve definitely had some (read: a lot of) fantasies about us in his office, it’s the middle of the day, and I’m aware of the number of people walking around on the other side of that door. So I reluctantly stop kissing him and start to pull away, but his arms are still wrapped around me and I really don’t want that to end. I realize I’m smiling like an idiot as he tilts his head forward, resting his forehead against mine.

 

Suddenly he’s laughing. It’s quiet, and it sounds like the way he laughs when he’s making fun of me. “What?” I ask, my paranoia resurfacing. “What’s so funny?”

 

“Nothing,” he tells me, lifting his head and shaking it. “I’m just really glad I didn’t tell you a satellite falls out of the sky about once every ten days.”

 

“ _What_?” I ask, pulling back from him just enough so I can really look at his face. His adorable, grinning face. “You let me run around all day freaking out about this when you _knew_ nothing was going to happen?” I shriek, slapping his arm.

 

“Donna!” He tugs me close again, and my hands find his shoulders, gripping so I maintain my balance. His face is close to mine, and all I want to do is kiss him again even though I can’t believe he let me worry about this all day.

 

“I can’t believe you,” I scold him, but we both know it’s half-hearted as he leans in and kisses me again.

 

I really hope today isn’t the day a satellite finally hits us. Because I could get used to this.


End file.
